AND VISIT TO THE PURIS AT ST. FIDELIS. 105 



seen them really majestic in Brazil ; but none of them, however, 

 equalled the dimensions of the trunk of the celebrated dragon-tree 

 of Orotava, which, according to Humboldt's measurement, was forty- 

 five feet in circumference. In the upper ])ranches of the above- 

 mentioned fig-tree we found the remarkable nest of the little green 

 tody ( fodusj : it was of a conical shape, composed of wool, closed 

 at top, and had a narrow entrance. In Brazil, there are far more 

 birds which build such closed nests than among us, probably because 

 there are more enemies to the young brood. 



Some leagues beyond St. Salvador the mountains begin to rise, and 

 when we had passed the sugar-plantations, we beheld the lofty forests 

 in the distance. In the woods there appeared to be red patches, which 

 proceed entirely from the young foliage of the sapucaya tree, which 

 when it shoots forth in the spring is of a rose colour. It was just at 

 this time the most favourable season of the year for travelling, for 

 every where the new leaves appeared in the most charming diversity 

 of tints ; the freshest verdure adorned the whole landscape, and the 

 agreeable temperature of the air was uncommonly pleasing to us 

 natives of the north, who were not accustomed to immoderate heat. 

 After proceeding about three leagues we again came to the banks of 

 the Paraiba, and were much struck with its beauty at this place. 

 Three islands, partly covered with lofty ancient trees, diversify its sur- 

 face. The river, which is not inferior in breadth to the Rhine, flows 

 with a rapid current, and on its banks green hills clothed with woods 

 and groves alternate with \?LYge fazendas, the broad red- tiled roofs of 

 which produce an agreeable contrast with the green foliage, while the 

 huts of the negroes form little villages around them. The valleys, 

 between the hills on the banks, are full of marshes, to which a tall 

 species of trumpet-tree ( hignonia) frequently imparts the melancholy 

 appearance of a decayed wood. The trunk and branches are of a bright 

 ash-grey colour, and its narrow dark brownish-green foliage gives it 



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